U.S. President Donald Trump has warned Iran that the U.S. will destroy one bridge or power plant each time Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
In his warning on social media, the President returned to earlier threats to target civilian infrastructure in retaliation for Iranian attacks. It comes as strikes have escalated on both sides, leaving an interim deal to end the war in tatters.
“From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media.
- AP
The Iranian news agency Tasnim reported a U.S. missile strike on the island of Larak in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday afternoon, saying residents heard a loud explosion there.
“At 2:48 p.m., the island of Larak was targeted by an American missile,” Tasnim said. “The competent authorities are currently carrying out an investigation to determine the scale of the attack, the exact point of impact and the extent of the potential damage.”
- AFP
Iran again denied the existence of any secret nuclear complex at Kolang mountain on Wednesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to strike the site in the centre of the country.
“Washington’s obsessive focus on Kolang Kouh where no nuclear activity is taking place is nothing more than a fabricated pretext for aggression, destruction, and sabotage,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on X.
He insisted “Iran’s nuclear activities have been fully declared” to the UN’s atomic watchdog.
Mr. Trump had warned on Tuesday that the U.S. would hit the site, known as Pickaxe Mountain in English.
- AFP
Lebanon’s Prime Minister visited a battered southern village on Wednesday as the implementation of a Washington-brokered Lebanese-Israeli agreement began, following months of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The two sides, technically in a state of war nearly 80 years after Israel’s establishment, started rare direct talks championed by Washington.
They reached an agreement by late June, setting a plan for the deployment of Lebanese military forces in areas in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah had a military presence and influence, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, while disarming the militant group.
Hezbollah has refused the talks and disarmament calls.
- AP
A missile alert has sounded in Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia has warned residents of Dammam, on the Persian Gulf, to seek shelter.
The warnings on Wednesday came as Iran has launched missile attacks across the region and the U.S. has carried out waves of airstrikes on Iran.
- AP
Iran executed a man on charges linked to nationwide protests in January, an opposition group and the Iranian judiciary’s official Mizan news agency reported on Wednesday.
Mizan identified the man as Mehdi Khaneki and said he was executed for “operational actions” that benefited Israel, the United States and hostile groups, and for what it called crimes during the January protests. It said he also produced and possessed weapons.
The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the political arm of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), said in a statement that Khaneki was hanged on charges of membership of the PMOI and taking part in protests in the city of Karaj.
There have been a number of executions over the last few months that Mizan and Iranian media have linked to the PMOI.
- Reuters
Four tankers changed their navigational course in the Red Sea on Wednesday (July 22, 2026), with two signalling the Suez Canal as their new destination after Yemen’s Houthi militia warned ships to avoid sailing to Saudi Arabian ports, ship tracking data showed.
The vessels all changed their direction, with the other two signalling their destination as open waters in the Red Sea, according to LSEG and MarineTraffic ship tracking data and analysis from British maritime risk management group Vanguard.
A fifth ship — a vehicle carrier — appeared to have turned away in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday after signalling the Saudi port of Jeddah as its next destination, according to shipping data.
- Reuters
Bulgaria played down Iran’s warning that its plan to host U.S. tanker aircraft would constitute complicity in “aggression and war crimes” in West Asia, arguing that the planes would only serve logistical purposes.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev said it was “categorically out of the question for military operations in the Middle East to be conducted from Bulgarian territory”.
“These tanker aircraft are intended solely for logistical missions, and they will be refuelled outside Bulgarian airspace,” Bulgarian media quoted Mr. Radev as telling Ministers.
- Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Asian leaders Wednesday (July 22, 2026) that Iran’s demand to control and collect tolls in the Strait of Hormuz would threaten the world’s economy and the principle of freedom of navigation.
Mr. Rubio spoke at the start of an annual meeting in the Philippine capital, Manila, with counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations who have expressed alarm over the resurgent war in West Asia that has battered their region.
Despite Washington’s preoccupation with the war in West Asia, Mr. Rubio reassured “we’re with ASEAN 100 per cent.”
“If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation-state can decide that they are going to control an international waterway, charge a toll and, if you don’t pay them, blow up your ships, we have created a very dangerous precedent which will repeat itself in other parts of the world, including in this region,” he said.
Rubio warns Asian leaders that Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz threatens global economy and navigation freedoms.
Pakistan said Wednesday (July 22, 2026) it was “deeply concerned” by attempts to pull Saudi Arabia into West Asia war and condemned the threats by Yemen’s Houthis against the kingdom and Red Sea shipping.
“Pakistan is also deeply concerned over attempts to drag the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia into the conflict in the Middle East and reiterates its unwavering support for the security, sovereignty, territorial integrity and prosperity of the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan, a close security partner of the Saudis.
- AFP
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday (June 22, 2026) will attend a ceremony for four U.S. service members killed in Iranian attacks in West Asia, who will return to American soil in flag-draped caskets.
The ceremony, known as a “dignified transfer” of the bodies, comes amid growing frustration with Trump’s war against Iran.
The U.S. President will travel to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the ceremony.
U.S. Presidents, Vice-Presidents and dignitaries regularly attend the solemn transfer ceremonies at Dover – home of the largest U.S. military mortuary – during times of war or conflict that result in the deaths of U.S. troops.
- Reuters
The Jordanian Army said it intercepted four Iranian missiles on Wednesday (July 22, 2026), adding that two others fell in an open area as Tehran pressed its attacks across the region.
“Air defence systems today detected six missiles coming from Iranian territory,” the army said in a statement, adding that they “intercepted and downed four missiles, while the other two fell in two remote, uninhabited areas, without causing any human casualties or material damage”.
- AFP
Amid renewed hostilities and growing security concerns in West Asia, Air India on Wednesday said it is extending its suspension of operations on the Tel Aviv-Delhi route till the end of September.
The airline has been continuously extending its suspension of operations on the route for several months due to the prevailing security situation in the region.
The latest announcement comes amid renewed security concerns over the last 10 days, as the U.S. and Iran escalated military activity, with the American forces targeting bridges, water desalination plants and electrical facilities in Iran and Tehran, in turn, hitting U.S. bases in allied countries throughout West Asia.
- PTI
Missile alert sirens sounded Wednesday (July 22, 2026) in Jordan’s port city of Aqaba as attacks across West Asia overshadowed diplomatic efforts in Pakistan to salvage an interim ceasefire deal that has collapsed.
Jordan’s military said it intercepted four missiles in the Iranian attack, while two others fell in “uninhabited areas.”
Plumes of smoke could be seen overhead in Aqaba in videos filmed by people in the nearby Israeli city of Eilat.
- AP
Beirut is working towards a “complete Israeli withdrawal” from areas it occupies, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said today on a visit to a village where Lebanon’s army recently deployed.
“We will continue mobilising our political and diplomatic efforts to secure a complete Israeli withdrawal from the south,” he said in Zawtar al-Gharbiya, one of several “pilot zones” intended to demonstrate that the Lebanese army can remove and disarm Hezbollah as part of a Washington-sponsored deal with Israel.
- AFP
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Southeast Asian Foreign Ministers today that Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz would set a dangerous precedent with repercussions beyond the West Asia.
His comments came as U.S. Central Command said it had begun striking military targets in Iran for the “11th consecutive night” in a bid to degrade the country’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the waterway.
“If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation-state can decide to control an international waterway, charge a toll, and blow up your ships if you don’t pay, we have created a very dangerous precedent that will repeat itself in other parts of the world, including this region,” Mr. Rubio told envoys at a Manila gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
-AFP
President Donald Trump today plans to attend the dignified transfer of four U.S. service members killed in West Asia.
Mr. Trump will be at Dover Air Force Base when the remains of the troops killed in action are returned to their families, the White House said. The ritual is one of the most sombre duties of a commander-in-chief. It will be the third that Mr. Trump has attended since he launched the war in Iran in February.
-AP
President Donald Trump warned that the United States was “not finished” attacking Iran as strikes continued on Tuesday, as Tehran broadened its offensive against Gulf states after its Houthi allies threatened to blockade Saudi ports.
Two weeks after fighting resumed between the decades-old foes, Mr. Trump said Iran would need more than 20 years to recover from the damage inflicted in the West Asia war.
“If we left right now, it would take Iran 20, 25 years to rebuild,” he said. “We’re not finished at all...we’re not leaving right now.”
-AFP
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth faced fiery questions and protests on Tuesday over the U.S. war with Iran, which he estimated has cost $37.5 billion so far, as Republicans prepare a $95 billion package to fund the military, along with other White House priorities.
Mr. Hegseth said the supplemental war funding is an “urgent, necessary” injection of money, and with President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defence budget a generational investment in the military.
-AP
The U.S. military said it completed the 11th night of strikes on Iran this morning as attacks across the West Asia overshadowed diplomatic efforts in Pakistan to salvage an interim ceasefire deal that has collapsed.
U.S. Central Command said targets included aircraft hangars and drone storage sites. The newest barrage came after President Donald Trump telegraphed that strikes would be intensifying.
A barrage of U.S. strikes hasn’t loosened Iran’s grip on the strait, through which about one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and natural gas was shipped before the war.
-AP
Published - July 22, 2026 08:46 am IST